Summer Monro says that it has been about 22 years since the last time she had tasted a piece of fruit or a vegetable. Ever since, she has been living on a diet of chicken nuggets, fries, and potato chips – and she says she is perfectly healthy.

To those who are unaware of her condition, the 25-year-old woman from Cambridge may sound like someone who is just an extremely picky eater.

However, it was actually revealed that she is suffering from an extreme food phobia known as ARFID or avoidant restrictive food intake disorder.

Summer stopped eating fruit and vegetables when she was just three years old. Credit: Kennedy News and Media.
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According to Summer, she believes her illness began when she was forced to eat mashed potatoes when she was three years old. The incident triggered something in her to develop an irrational fear of fruit and veggies, to the point that she’s now unable to even look at one without gagging.

“It just makes me feel sick, there’s a part of my brain that physically won’t let me do it,” she says.

“Someone forced me to eat mashed potato and that’s where it all started,” she recalls. “The things I eat now are crispy or crunchy. I can only eat thin fries and they have to be really crispy. Even when I cook chicken nuggets, I have to make them crispy.”

It even came to a point when her granddad once offered her a thousand pounds ($1500 AUD) just to eat one single pea, but she turned down the offer because she felt she couldn’t do it.

Summer had already tried going to both conventional therapy and hypnotherapy in an attempt to treat her eating disorder, but neither had been effective. “I just can’t see myself changing. I like the smell of food but if I try to eat it, it makes me physically sick,” she admits.

Now, Summer’s diet only consists of chicken nuggets, fries, and potato chips.

Every day, Summer’s eating routine consists of skipping breakfast, a bag of Walkers crisps for lunch, and about six to eight servings of Birds Eye chicken nuggets for dinner.

That’s it. Every single day.

And since she is currently living with her partner Dean, they have to make two separate meals every day. On their date nights, Summer is only able to eat a bowl of thin chips.

Despite her very unusual and restrictive diet, Summer insists she’s perfectly healthy and doesn’t need to take any vitamins or supplements.

“It doesn’t affect me physically but it does mentally. I don’t feel lethargic or anything and I’ve had blood tests but they’re all fine,” she says.

If you’re curious to know more about ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) in general, check out this video below:

Credit: Specialist Hypnotherapy.​

 

[Lynette Finnigan]

There you go....why am I cooking all this varied and healthy options for my family all these years??? Should have just been living on fish n chips...and KFC nuggets

 

[leanneh]

Poor girl! I can't even begin to imagine going without fruit and veggies. In fact most of my meals are vegetarian in spite of the fact that I am a self confessed meat eater. What a horribly restricted diet. It surely can't be any good for her overall health in the long term. Maybe her body is compensating while she's young but what happens when she gets older?